Are you searching for how to start a blog or tip on how to start blogging?
Before starting out it’s important to understand why you want to create a blog and what your driving force behind it is. The reason most people fail is that they don’t get deep enough into identifying the “why” or true reason behind creating a blog.
Often your own personal values will dictate the reason for starting a blog, whether it is to create a business that can give you time and freedom to spend more time with your family. Whatever it may be, it’s very important to establish your why.
Choose a Domain Name
The first step in setting up a blog is to choose a domain name which represents your brand and is probably one of the most important things when it comes to the branding aspect of growing your blog. Start to think about what you want to name your brand.
Think in terms of a brand that represents your values. What you stand for should be reflected in your blog.
The second way that you can come up with a name for your own brand is a self-named brand this would be your name. If you choose this option, you will need to work much harder to gain prominence in your market, unless you are already a well-known person.
Set Up a WordPress Blog
To get started, you will need to buy a domain name and set your website hosting. Once this is done, set up a WordPress blog with one of the many great WordPress hosting services.
There are a lot of different options that you can choose to create a blog in a website, however, over thirty per cent of the entire Internet is run on WordPress alone. Some of the reasons that most people think they don’t want to get started with WordPress is because of they think the coding is too hard, however that is not the case.
Although it’s easy to set up a WordPress blog, if you’re a complete novice, an online marketing agency can help in getting you up and running.
Although you require to set up hosting, with WordPress you will actually own your blog. If you use third-party websites, such as a done-for-you website, you relinquish control to the third party.
It’s the same as in social media. For instance, just the way you don’t own an Instagram or Facebook account, as you can be shut down at any time.
Similarly, with a done-for-you blog, your service provider can shut it down, as they have complete control. This is why growing a successful blog on the Internet requires a WordPress installation.
Choose a WordPress Theme
Once you have installed WordPress, the next step is to choose a theme. A theme is simply the design of your website and what is it going to look like for users when they visit it.
It may be tempting to use a free WordPress theme, but it is preferable to use a premium theme, which is available for a small payment. When you purchase a premium theme you unlock many features that aren’t available with a free theme.
The other reason is you can customize the look so it’s most suited for your business. The built-in templates of premium themes can make your website look amazing and stand out from others.
If possible, chose a local web design company for your project. For example, if you live in Sydney, Australia, then your best bet is to contact on of the many web marketing service providers in Sydney so that they can recommend which premium themes may be best for your blog.
The third reason is, high-quality premium themes have many different plugins which help with marketing your blog and can also generate leads.
Creating and Publishing Quality Content
Growing a successful blog takes time and effort. What separates the successful bloggers from the unsuccessful bloggers is that the people who create content on a consistent basis are those who get the most benefits.
Many business owners start a website and begin blogging, but are very often unsuccessful because they fail to blog consistently or simply give up blogging altogether. Blogging is a long term strategy and you have to blog consistently for an extended period of time to achieve your goals. Blogging is so important, in fact, that you may want to look into quality blog writing services to help you achieve consistency.
Share Your Posts on Social Media
Sharing your posts on social media is especially important when you are just starting out because when you start to blog and begin publishing posts, at first hardly anyone is going to see your blogs and a lot of people get frustrated with this. However, you have to understand this is not a cause for concern.
You have just started blogging and nobody even knows your articles or infographics even exist. Social media sharing can give your blog posts the reach you are looking for.
Many people spend time trying to share their blog posts on too many different sites and get burned. Instead, choose two or three platforms you routinely spend time on to share your blog post.
Build and Grow an Email List
When you have an email list, each time a new blog post is published you can send an email to your subscribers and automatically start to get views for your new content. This is very important. With time, as your email list grows, and you continue to provide value, you will automatically start getting traffic to your blog which gives it a boost.
One of the main reasons it’s so powerful to grow an email list and promote your own blog posts is the boost you get from Google. There are a couple of different things that you need when it comes to growing an email list. The first thing is you’re going to need an email capture page service. This is the process where someone visits a one-page website and exchanges their email for a valuable piece of content such as a checklist, video or infographic which can be downloaded instantly at no cost.
Aside from the lead capture page, you will also need an email marketing service that allows you to collect leads and store them in one place.
Using this service you can send out a series of follow-up emails automatically. For example, if you have created a checklist that you are giving away for free once someone enters their email to download this checklist, you can send out a Thank-You email automatically to their email address.
You can also plug in an email sequence so one email goes out every two days for a whole week containing links to more content or to a special limited-time offer.
Ongoing email engagement builds trust and results in more people buying what you have to offer.
Building a Community and Growing Your Audience
To take your blogging to a whole new level you will need to grow your audience and build a community of raving fans. To do this even as you continue to provide valuable information to the marketplace, you will need to begin building an audience on a consistent basis.
As a subject expert, you need to take a stand on what you believe in. This means whatever your brand is about, you should stand firm on your beliefs. People who become raving fans of your blog expect you to back yourself, even if means you have to be polarizing. With time you will grow your audience and your brand. You will also get more people to buy your products and take advantage of your promotional offers.
Once your blog has been running for one or two months, and you begin to see some user engagement, it’s time to scale and the best way to do this is by enlisting the services of an online marketing agency who have the knowledge and skill set to help you achieve your goals faster than you can with your own efforts.
